


Hosie - An Anthology

by SA_Wolfie



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:34:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SA_Wolfie/pseuds/SA_Wolfie
Summary: A collection of lengthy Hosie one-shots of all different colors and flavors.Submit your requests and ideas as a comment on the first chapter. Who knows - I might make all your Hosie dreams come true!
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 62
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

Hi guys!

So I have decided to create a collection of one-shot Hosie fics, because sometimes it is just necessary to write about something that isn't part of my main fics in order to scratch an itch. Sometimes writing something else helps with ideas for the main fics when I have writer's block. Sometimes it's just fun.

My one-shots are longer than my average chapters. From all the one-shots I have written none have been shorter than 5k words, while one was well over 8k words, so they are usually worth a few chapters - very much like a mini fic. They may take me a few days to write to completion, or (depending on length and time available) I might finish them in one sitting.

This first chapter will be for you to send in your "requests". If there's anything specific you would like to see me write a Hosie one-shot on, leave your comments here. It can be anything - from an outrageous idea, to a scene that you want to see, or maybe a song or movie inspired you and you want a fic based off of that. Maybe you want more fluff, or something heartbreaking, or something a little more on the naughty side... This first chapter is always open for you to deposit your ideas and I'll consider them for you when choosing my next one-shot.

Remember, we're here to have fun and I am a facilitator for that. So give me a shout anytime!


	2. City Of Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Angel of Death falls in love with a human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One-shot inspired by:  
> City of Angels (film)  
> Meet Joe Black (film)  
> 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls (song)

"All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."

My life began at the end of another.

I say "my life" as I consider it vastly different from "my existence". I had already existed for millennia and would continue to exist for many more... But I had only lived once. Existing is not living. To be alive and to truly live a life worthy of the very terminology was a treasure that could not be fathomed or named by mere mortal words or attempts at explanation. To live is to open yourself up to the vastness of the entirety of the universe without fear. To live is to feel fear and yet be willing to open yourself up to the vastness of the eternal universe in which you are but a mere speck. To live is to be broken, and to be whole, all at the same time.

I did not know what it meant to live. I knew what it meant to die. It was the purpose that I served - to guide peacefully those who have come to the end of their tether. I am a messenger of the hereafter, and I retrieve those souls that have been summoned. Humans often call me the Angel of Death, but I am simply named Hope. I linger in shadow, but never interfere. My job is not to interfere, not to take, not to make decisions of any sort. My job is merely to serve, to take a passing soul by the hand and guide them along peacefully. I call them "passengers", as they are in transition between life and death, their souls being transported from one extreme to the next.

The great commanding voice of all sentient creatures merely whispers a name into my ear, from total nothingness. And from that nothingness, an ending approaches; an ending that was once something. I do not question the summons. I only obey. It is all I know. After all, the lifespan of a mortal is but a mere dot on the line of eternity. And when there are so many dots, how can just one make a difference or appear significant in any way?

And it was with this mindset that I once more visited upon earth, only to have the very meaning of everything change for me within the blink of an eye.

(...)

It was a beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon in a town named Mystic Falls. I had been sent for a young woman whose time had come. These were the times that I imagine, now, were times I should have felt bad, guilty, sad, anything. Human emotions had always been extremely intricate and complicated to me. At that time I did not understand the true significance of losing a life and the profound implications it could have.

I lingered in the woman's shadow for several days. I always tried to spend a hint of time trying to learn something new from our mortal counterparts before I had to ferry them away. This particular mortal had a deeply and emphatic feeling towards family ties, though she also exhibited a great deal of resentment towards the very same. It was amazing, I found, how contradictory the human heart could be. I sat next to her, unseen, at a table in a coffee shop right up against the window from where you could see the town square. The atmosphere was relaxed, but my passenger was troubled. She had gotten into a severe argument with her aunt over the phone over something regarding a family business.

Again, in hindsight, this was another moment that lend itself to feelings of pity or an apologetic disposition, but I could not understand. I could not understand why it would be such a travesty to ferry a passenger before they had tied up the loose strings of their heart, so to speak. This passenger, this woman, would never speak to her aunt again and without knowing it the last words she had spoken to the woman over the phone were laced with disdain.

I know better now. Now I would tell them, if I could be so bold as to whisper in their ear, to make amends and to empty their hearts each and every single day. The last day always comes unexpectedly.

My passenger did unfortunately not receive the luxury of the final moment.

I watched as she slipped three sugars into her tea and stirred almost angrily at the warm liquid.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I looked up, surprised, at the table next to that of my passenger to find another young woman enjoying a cup of coffee during what seemed to be her break from work. She was dressed in blue scrubs and her dark russet waves of hair were tied back messily, beautifully matching the slightly untamed look in her dark eyes.

"The sugar can only get absorbed so much before you break the cup with effort." She grinned at my passenger and it was nothing but pure golden warmth that I saw; that I felt; that I wanted more of. There was just something intriguing about the gentle lines that hugged her lips as she smiled: something in the way her full lips parted carefully to reveal the whiteness beyond.

"Well, maybe the cup deserves it. Just maybe... The cup wants to be broken." I could sense my passenger attempting to transfer emotions through symbolism onto inanimate objects and I found the effort intriguing. But not as intriguing as her audience. Her beautiful audience of one, whom soon seated herself at the same table as my passenger in order to converse more comfortably.

I watched as she continued to smile at my passenger as if she had hung the moon. The attraction between the two was palpable to the extent where the vibrations from their interaction reached even myself. It made me feel uncomfortable, not because of the human nature of the emotions washing over me like waves, but rather the way I felt like drowning in one specific emotion of my own - jealousy.

The word was foreign on my tongue and sounded strange in my ears when I whispered it to myself. Angels could not experience such emotions, yet there I was, experiencing something oddly human and altogether disturbing. I had to remove myself from the situation and rediscover my divine purpose. I could not afford to get caught up in the frivolities of mortals.

(...)

The sunshine was a guilty pleasure of mine. It had a certain warming effect on my being as I bathed in the temperate light. The town square had gotten busy and bodies were weaving past one another, back and forth, back and forth, never knowing the true potential of a missed encounter. Like ants, humans tended to bustle about, antennae constantly bouncing off one another to transfer information, but so rarely stopping to actually look at - to truly see - one another. All the world seemed blind.

I had spent some indeterminate amount of time (after all, what were mere minutes more than dust in the garden of eternity?) seated on a bench on the grassy square, patiently observing my passenger and her company from afar. The smiles were frequent, along with the curious head tilts. There was a nervous fiddling with empty sugar packets by unsure fingers, though I could not understand why. Neither woman was showcasing threatening behavior, and neither of them seemed to be experiencing fear. The range of human emotion was often too much for my understanding, though I had gotten better over the years.

It was not much longer until they eventually departed from one another. There was a lingering handshake and a time-consuming staring of eyes that seemed to long for something more. The brunette beauty looked back several times before turning the corner of the street, catching final glimpses of what could possibly have been, had it not been for the stray dog a few blocks away.

Bursting loose from his leash, the hound bounded into the street; a street down which a young executive was speeding because he was late for work due to the fact that he was up most of the night cheating on his unsuspecting wife. As he rushed his red car through an intersection and swerved for the dog, a vacuum of air was created and quickly filled again, creating a force of movement that shot up the side of an old building that should have been closed down for repairs and renovations months ago. The sudden surge of air up the wall, of course, dislodged an ancient model air conditioner box that still hung upon the bricks precariously. When the final screw came loose, the box fell six floors to the pavement below. 

It took my passenger six steps after catching her final glimpse of the beauty from the coffee shop to come to pass across the exact spot that the box gave way to gravity.

There was a moment right before impact that I stood before her on the sidewalk, the world frozen around us. "Which is the greatest human emotion above all else?" I asked her. She was frightened, but circumstance would not allow her to move. I unfurled my wings before her to let her know that she was to be lead away to a better place. They were broad, white and magnificent and the mere sight of them could calm even the wildest human spirit.

"Which is the greatest human emotion above all else?" I asked her once again, and she answered... "Love."

As I ferried her soul to the other side, I realised that the sudden insatiable desire I had to know more of the human experience would not let me sleep until I've tried to embrace it myself. I had to feel, touch, taste, hear and smell with my own senses in the same way a mortal did.

Little did I know then that it would mean my complete and utter undoing.

But callously, I collected the passenger's body, healed it, and claimed it for myself. I removed a business card from the pocket of the jacket I was wearing then: 'Dr. Josette Saltzman, DVM'. 

Only for a little while, I swore to the unheard voices, not bothering to heed their warnings.

(...)

"Hi! I have an appointment with Dr. Saltzman for little Juke here." I tried to be as charming and present to be as normal as possible as I hugged the fluffy ball of a puppy to my chest. Her fur was curly and almost the same color as my hair. Her eyes were brown, however, unlike my blue pair. In fact, her eyes were the same chocolate as Josette's.

I had spent time sitting by myself and saying her name out loud. I let it roll off my tongue, fast at first, but then slower and slower as I savored every syllable. It was a beautiful name, French in origin, meaning 'God will increase'. Increase what exactly, I was not sure, but it was easy enough to guess when spending time in her presence. The increase of positive feelings are plenty and completely alluring.

"Of course. You can take a seat and the doctor will be with you shortly." The receptionist at the veterinarian clinic smiled warmly at me and indicated towards the bench behind where I was standing. As I sat down and attempted to get comfortable, I soon found my palms perspiring. What an odd physical human reaction to an abstract emotion. I felt... Nervous. I felt nervous about seeing Dr. Josette Saltzman again, wondering whether she'd be able to tell that there is a difference now in the entity inhabiting this body; nervous about whether she'd be pleased to see me to even begin with; and nervous about what possible emotions she may awaken within me.

"Oh my God, hey!" She appeared a few minutes later, her face lighting up when she saw me and it caused a strange twinge withing my chest. "You didn't tell me you had a puppy!" She exuded life and warmth and exuberance and I couldn't help but see the bright glow of her positive energy surrounding her.

"Yeah well she's brand new, as you can tell. You inspired me, so I went and adopted her." I tried to speak with natural confidence as if I was the one present in the coffee shop; as if it was me that was lucky enough to soak up the 35 minutes of her company over her lunch break a few days ago.

"Inspired you?" she said in confusion as her dark brows bowed toward one another. "How did I do that exactly?"

I panicked. I hadn't actually listened in on that conversation and I knew I was taking a gamble with my choice of words. "You just seemed so... Passionate, about animals I mean, that I couldn't resist." I smiled brightly at her, knowing my smile could never be as bright as her sun.

"I really didn't expect to see you again. Of course I had... Hoped... Which is why I slipped the card in your pocket. I mean, I know you said 'no names' and all, but... I'm rambling now, I'm sorry!" She chuckled and the sound was akin to the tinkling of a wind-chime to my ears. I enjoyed the sound almost as much as I enjoyed the appearance of a subtle blush spreading across her cheeks. "Here, let me take little..."

"Juke." I helped her quickly, unable to say more in the moment that would not give away how flustered I suddenly felt at her close proximity when she leaned in to take the puppy from me.

"Juke...and you know my name now, so...?" She arched her brows at me. She was asking my name and I realized that I had never been asked that before. When I meet my passengers they always want to know who I am, but it's not my name that they want. They want to know who I am as far as it concerns what's happening to them, but never my actual name.

"Hope..." It's almost a whisper when it crosses my lips and the sound of it is strange to my own ears. My name is Hope, I think with reverence.

"Its nice to meet you... Again, Hope." Oh, what a celestial gift was my name formed by her tongue, uttered from her perfect mouth! Would I ever hear anything of such beauty again?

(...)

It turns out Dr. Josette Saltzman is a very good vet, and I could only imagine that she put as much care and compassion into all aspects of her life. She gave the fragile little puppy a thorough check-up before administering her shots. All this was handled with the greatest care while she spoke to me about work and her love for animals and veterinary science.

Her eyes, I noticed, would light up whenever she got just slightly excited, and she often rambled nervously when her train of thought ran away with her. She was a delight to observe and be around and as we started reaching the end of our appointment I could not help but wish it could carry on, even if only for a few minutes more. I had found myself completely enraptured by the doctor and there was nothing I could do to change or stop it.

"Thank you so much..." I breathed as the moment came where I had to bid her farewell. Thank you for allowing me the pleasure of your smile, your warmth, your passion... "For taking good care of my girl here."

She stepped closer and my mouth ran slightly dry. What an odd physical response to her proximity once again. I watched her mouth for a second longer than I knew was appropriate, but eventually cast my eyes upward to meet with hers. "She's beautiful." The doctor said as she met my gaze, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Stunning, really..."

I felt my skin grow hot inexplicably. Was she still talking about the puppy?

"Listen..." She breathed deeply then and brought her hands together, wringing them nervously. I looked on in fascination. Every move she made fascinated me greatly. "I'm going to just... Take a chance here." She chuckled again and my heartbeat fluctuated. I was starting to wonder how humans did not think that they were busy dying half the time with all of these... Symptoms.

"Would you like to have a drink, or coffee, again... Sometime... With me?" She rambled awkwardly again and it was the most endearing clumsily put-together sentence I had ever heard.

"I would like that very much, Dr. Saltzman", I smiled in return, though it felt more like I was beaming.

"Please, call me Josie." She added quickly and I knew I would spend the next few hours rolling the newly acquired name around my tongue, getting lost in the flavor of it.

(...)

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

During our first coffee date I found out that Josie was one half of a set of twins. Her sister, Lizzie, worked at some famous fashion magazine in the city. I learned that Josie was the more withdrawn of the two and that she preferred the simple things in life. She was a down to earth soul with her head in the clouds. She dreamed about creating a self-sustaining animal shelter on the outskirts of town that would be big enough to house every single stray around. 

Her dreams were beautiful, just like her.

On our second date I did what seemed to be a typical human tradition: I took Josie to dinner and a movie. That night I found out that Josie was vegetarian, not because she thought it was healthier, but because her heart was too big to get over harming any animal in any way. And when I embarrassed myself by getting some dessert stuck below my lip, she leaned in close and wiped it away with her thumb.

All I could do is stare.

I also found out that Josie was easily frightened by horror movies and would jump at every hint of a scary moment. She held tightly onto my arm and stayed close enough to hide her face in my sweater whenever the music got tense. She could not have realized how her warm breath made the fine hairs on my skin stand on end in delight. She laughed it all off afterwards, but somehow I just knew she'd leave a light on when she slept that night.

On our third date Josie took me on a picnic by the lake just outside of town. She showed me a spot off to one side that she claimed was her haven for thinking and feeling when the world around her got too much. It was a beautiful area surrounded by natural greenery while an old rustic dock sat in between, barely touching the water with what was left of it. I could see the appeal - it was wonderfully secluded and completely peaceful.

We relaxed with the sun warming our faces as we watched the clouds drift by, pointing out the ones that resembled something more tangible. She tilted her head towards me and rested it on my shoulder as she reflected upon the beauty of impermanence and her appreciation of the fleeting moment. She was not the kind of woman to let the small things go unnoticed.

And when she noticed the look of utter adoration on my face, the moment would change the course of our lives forever.

"Do you believe in destiny?" She had asked then, that dreamy look in her eyes. I could have explained it all to her, but there was more beauty in simply witnessing her exploration of the idea. I watched as the possibilities of what was truth and what was fiction flash across her features.

"Tell me what you think." I had answered, because her thoughts were all that mattered to me.

"Well, destiny implies that life is pre-determined, which means that free will does not exist." She started philosophizing, which was something she often liked to do. And I liked watching her do it, loved hearing her thought processes and getting to know who she truly was on the inside. "And I'm not necessarily fond of the idea of being fooled by the illusion that my choices matter... But there is just something so poetic about destiny."

She leaned back so that she could meet my gaze. Her eyes were dark and stormy then and I wondered how long it would take for this vessel that was all of me to sink into those depths. "Fate gives rise to the sort of epic love that you only seem to find in stories..." She whispered as she cast her gaze to my lips then.

That was the moment I knew that I had already drowned. 

My eyes were already closed by the time her lips touched mine and I could see the wonderous creation of the entire universe play out in a brilliant flash of light and color against the dark backdrop of my eyelids. She was so soft and so tender that it should not have been possible for her to even exist as such. And when she leaned in further and moved her warm mouth more firmly against my own, I could not for the life of me understand how I ever could have existed without her presence in my life.

I was undeniably... Unfathomably... Indescribably... In love... With a mortal...

(...)

"You can't stay here forever, Hope. You know that." Hailey spoke softly to me when she visited. She had always been a mother-figure for me during all of my existence, and even now she sought me out to deliver her guidance. "And the longer you stay within this human form, the more human you will become."

"I fear you're right. These emotions... They are overwhelming..." I admitted reluctantly, flashes of Josie flitting across my memory.

"Come home, then." Her eyes were pleading. She was afraid for me, I could tell. Only God knew what would happen to my soul should I decide to stay. 

But the truth was, I didn't care. "I can't... I can't leave her. I couldn't bear not having her by my side." I didn't care about my own soul when my life revolved around hers.

Hailey took a deep breath and focused her gaze intently upon me. "Hope... What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'd give up forever just to touch her. I'm saying that she's my heaven, my earth, my life and death and everything in between." And I would give up everything just to be with her.

"Hope... She doesn't even know the truth about you. Could you ever make her understand?" Hailey asked then, concerned.

... 

Could I...?

(...)

It was raining the night I showed up on Josie's doorstep, soaked through to the bone. She opened the door and immediately adopted a concerned expression, fetching a towel to help me dry as I was the one to ramble for a change.

"Jo, there's something I need to tell you." I jumped straight into it. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable. I needed her to know and I needed her to understand - more than the fact that I was an angel, she needed to realise that I would give it all up for her.

"I'm not... I'm not who you think I am... I'm not WHAT you think I am..." I tried to find the right and most difficult words I had ever needed to speak, while Josie simply smiled at me with that reassuring warmth that she always carried with her. She was toweling my hair, my face, my arms and shoulders with the greatest care any one person could muster.

"Josie... I'm... I'm an angel." As I said this, her smile only grew. She eyed me closely as she lingered near to my body with hers, fingertips still dancing along the collar of my button-up shirt.

"I know..." She whispered and kissed my jaw, then kissed below my jaw, before dragging her lips along the shell of my ear as she whispered further. "It had to have been divine intervention that put you in my path. There's no other way to explain this kind of perfection."

"You... you're okay... with that?" I asked, surprised and slightly confused, but more distracted by the feeling of her lips brushing along my neck, warm against the chill of my skin from the rain. I had trouble explaining the sudden urge for my knees to cave from under me.

"That depends... Are you okay with what's happening here?" Josie purred into my ear as her fingers fell to the buttons of my shirt and swiftly started to undo them, one by one. Initially I assumed it was to help me with my wet clothing, but the more her warm fingers brushed purposefully against the skin of my chest and stomach, the more I had to ask myself just exactly what WAS happening here.

"Because I..." She finished with the buttons of my shirt and let her hands slide onto my naked shoulders just underneath the fabric, then slowly proceeded to slide the soaked garment down my arms. "I don't want you to be an angel tonight..." She said the words as she looked to me, so close, her eyes dark and cloudy and her lips twitching with sensitivity.

I wasn't sure I understood what she meant, but then again I wasn't sure whether she truly understood what I had told her either. I thought about trying again to explain, but the thought was fleeting as my mind went blank the moment her lips rediscovered my neck. Soon they were traveling in a messy line towards my collarbone and I could not think of one good reason to stop it.

The physical sensations overwhelmed me. The closest I had ever come to euphoria in my entire existence was serving my purpose for which I was created, but suddenly the word did not match anymore. THIS was euphoria, this... This... Burning in my lower abdomen was ecstacy... These clenching muscles and quivering nerves that caused my breath to get caught in my throat.

"Jo, I..." I adore you. I worship you. I want you. I need you. I love you.

My mind drifted and the words dissipated as her lips found their way back to my mouth and this time the kiss was far less gentle than any other we had ever shared. It was searing as I could feel her pouring her everything into it, pouring all of her desire forth for me to inhale. And as her tongue slipped past my teeth to playfully duel with mine, I knew that there'd be no more words for the rest of the night.

To me, the significance of what we shared that night was unparalleled still in my life today. I had been a celestial being all my existence and we did not get to experience the physical or romantic aspect of love as humans did. But that night... That night I had my chance. My one and only chance. I had no idea what to expect or what I was doing, but Josie... She took care of me... She took care of me in every way...

I could write poetry about the beauty of her naked body seated on top of me, legs wrapped around my back. I could write stories about the sweet sounds of her moans in my ear, calling my name. I could paint the most beautiful portraits using the colors she caused me to see - the kaleidoscope of patterns and ratios that seemed to contain the very meaning of life itself - when she slipped inside of me, and guided me to enter into her as well.

For hours we were nothing but a tangled mess of limbs and sweat and kisses and hips and hands and tongues and lips... For hours my heart would stop and start again, my lungs would burst and burn, inflate and deflate, repeatedly and harshly... For hours I swear I relived the pertinence of birth and death and rebirth in a continuous cycle.

We eventually fell asleep at some passing hour, at the beginning of twilight and the end of total darkness. Sleep was always simple, but this time was different.

For the first time in all of eternity I dreamed... And I dreamed of her...

(...)

Later that morning I woke up with a start, the echoes of Josie's name in my ears and bouncing off the walls of my mind as if I had awoken from a dream of her. But it was not pleasant, and the feeling in my gut was foreboding. When I looked over to Josie's side of her bed where she was supposed to be asleep next to me, it was empty, save for a note titled "Hope" on her pillow.

_Hey Beautiful_

_Thank you for the amazing night. You absolutely took my breath away..._

_Please relax and stay comfortable. I'll be back soon._

_Jo xxx_

It was a Saturday, so I wasn't sure where she would have gone. But knowing Josie, it probably involved some coffee and bagels. I smiled at her sweetness and I wanted to get excited at her return, but I could not shake the feeling with which I had awoken.

I went to take a hot shower while waiting for her when it happened again: it was Josie's name echoing through my mind, having been whispered into my ear. And I knew...

I wanted to scream, I wanted to plead, I wanted to rebel, but I knew none of it would work. Was I being punished? Was it because of my arrogance in thinking that I could simply slip into a mortal life like there would be no consequences? Was this my fault?

"It's time to come home, Hope." I heard Hailey's voice in my head and I knew she was with me. I knew there was nothing I could do but to perform the purpose for which I exist...

I cried then. I had never cried before. And I never will again. I cried until I thought my lungs would give out. I cried until my eyes were on fire. I cried until it felt as if every rib was breaking within my chest. And then I cried some more.

And when I was done, I shed my skin and opened my wings.

(...)

As angels, we have no real physical appearance of our own. We show humans what they might like to see - a familiar face, or perhaps a beautiful stranger. To each other we do the same, but for the most part we're simply refracted light.

When I approached Josie, I showed her the face that had fallen in love with her.

It had happened a couple of blocks from her flat. She was walking along and just managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was passing by a small electronics store as a robbery was in progress and got caught in the crossfire. By the time I reached her she was bleeding out from her abdomen.

There were two cups of coffee and a packet of bagels strewn along the sidewalk next to her...

"Hope?" She whispered as I crouched by her side. Only she could see me now.

"It will be okay." I smiled sadly down at the woman I loved. "I'm here for you..." I hated how those words held their double meaning.

"You really are an angel..." she chuckled, but it soon turned to coughing as her lungs started to fail her.

"I told you..." I gently kissed her cheek one last time and bit back tears.

I was holding onto her hand when the light left her eyes...


End file.
